The British boy band literally jumped for joy when Ke$ha and Wiz Khalifa announced that they had won the fan-voted Moonman for Best New Artist. After rushing to the stage, it was Zayn Malik who stepped up and thanked everyone involved in 1D’s fantastic journey that brought them to the VMA stage tonight.

“I guess we’d just like to say a massive thank-you to each and every single one of you in here today,” Malik said. “Also to all of our fans, friends, family and also the people who work with us day in, day out backstage with us: our crew. We have an amazing crew. We have so many people to thank, so I’m going to pass it to Harry.”

On cue, Harry Styles took the microphone from his fellow bandmember to sum up how the British pop band felt about sweeping their first Video Music Awards.

“To win one Moonman is amazing. To win two is incredible, and to perform is absolutely ridiculous, so thank so much for having us,” he said. “Thank you everyone in our team. We love you so much. Thank you.”

Tonight was without a doubt one of the biggest nights of 1D’s career. Styles, Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson brought the VMAs pre-show to a close by taking home the Most Share-Worthy Video award
(also voted for by fans) and then went on to win the Best Pop Video Moonman
. And who can forget their fantastic debut VMA performance singing “One Thing”?

The Best New Artist category featured some pretty stiff competition this year. One Direction managed to defeat their friendly rivals the Wanted (“Glad You Came”), and also won out over Frank Ocean (“Swim Good”), fun. (featuring Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”) and Carly Rae Jepsen (“Call Me Maybe”).

Hopefully, these big wins bode well for the rest of 1D’s 2012. Their new single, “Live While We’re Young,” debuts October 1, while their sophomore album, Take Me Home, hits stores November 13.